Onitama

£26.99

Carved into the crags of the mist-shrouded mountains of ancient Japan lies the ancient shrine of Onitama. Masters of the Arts journey there with their most promising disciples, to prove their superiority in battle.

Components:

1 roll up playmat

2 Master pawns

8 Student pawns

16 Move cards

1 Rulebook

Onitama is an elegant and simple game which captures the essence of martial arts.

Unfortunately this game fell absolutely flat for me. I say unfortunately because this game is a fantastic production, the components are stunning! This has been well reviewed and received a lot of positive press upon its release, but the game just didn't click at all for my wife and I.
It is an abstract 'piece-moving' game rather like chess except that instead of having different pieces that move differently you have identical pieces that move according to rules that are available on 2 movement cards you have in your hand. These cards are cycled with a third card that is in a common area. When you use a card to move you swap it with the third common card. This means you have to be wary as to what you are giving up for your opponent.
The game just felt dull and boring, without any real excitement. The cards all seemed to do much the same thing and my wife struggled to visualise where the pieces could be moved. I guess it is similar to chess in that you have to think several moves ahead and if you lose you end up feeling dumb for giving your opponent the victory!
A gorgeous looking game and probably suits a lot of people who seem to like it a lot, but it's not one for us.